


There Is Light Even In The Darkest of Times

by kittyface27



Category: One Piece
Genre: Death, Gen, Gore, Horror, Not a Happy Story, One Piece - Freeform, One Shot, Tragedy, Violence, Zombie, collection, darker oneshots halloween 2020, graphic depictions of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:20:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26862769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittyface27/pseuds/kittyface27
Summary: After a zombie outbreak occurs all over the world, Shanks gets an antidote to save Luffy, who he isn't sure is a zombie or not, though he's trapped on an island ravished by the disease. Can he use the antidote to save him? Or will things not go to plan? Rated M for gore. Entry for Darker Oneshots, Halloween 2020
Relationships: Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Monkey D. Luffy
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

Shanks cautiously walked through the village that he'd visited a couple years ago. He thought it was bad from a distance. That was nothing compared to how it was being up close. It seemed like the world was quiet in this little town that was in ruins. Houses were charred or burned down from people leaving their fireplaces on, or a candle lit that no one could put out.

It reeked like smoke and decaying bodies. Shanks didn't know if the smell was from the dead bodies lying around, or from the ones slowly decaying while still mobile. But there seemed to be no "zombies" (a word no one liked to say, but fit the description) in this part of the town, not that he could feel anyway. Which meant either there was no one left to turn, or no one left to _eat._

Every corner he turned, every house he briefly looked at, broke his heart. He recognized the mayor, who had lost most of his abdomen, who was a bloody, fly infested lump of mush. Thankfully, he was clearly dead. Shanks hoped it had been a quick death.

Continuing on, the man saw the baker. And one of the kids that used to bully the boy he was searching for.

He had to steel himself to approach the party bar. Looking around, there were no zombies inside, and no living person either.

He slowly was able to bring himself to look behind the bar, where Makino would spend her time taking orders from customers or pleasantly cleaning the tableware. There was nobody there, and Shanks let out a quiet sigh. So far, he hadn't seen her, or Luffy, yet. But Shanks would find him, and use the only sample of "cure" that he'd procured. He knew that if he met Luffy and Makino, and both were turned, he'd have to choose Luffy.

Shanks heard some noise, bringing him out of his thoughts, as he looked through the window of the door that separated the stockroom from the bar and dining area. There was a man he didn't recognize bumping into the wall repeatedly.

His face was gray, and purple veins were clear through the pale skin. His eyes were also a milky gray, and blood dripped from his nose that stained his mouth and teeth. Shanks briefly wondered how he could have gotten himself stuck in there.

The zombies were still people, hopeless or not, so Shanks would not think of them as "its". He pulled his head back away from the window, keeping the silence, moving on from the trapped zombie.

But there was a problem. Shanks could barely sense the undead man. So that could mean there were others around and Shanks just couldn't really feel them. Not being able to rely on this sense, Shanks made sure to use his other senses to the fullest. The sense of smell was useless, though, as the whole village stunk. Maybe the whole island did.

He kept looking out for any movement or sound. The pirate looked back at the port, which was still in view since the town was so tiny, and saw that the ship had done as he said and had gotten a fair distance away from the island. No one would risk an infection making its way onto the ship. No one knew how it started, so they didn't want to take a risk should it be airborne.

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to the side to vomit as he made a horrifying discovery. Now he knew where Makino was. Her mangled body was completely covered in blood. She had died recently he noted, seeing that the blood was still fresh. If only he had come quicker!

Now he had but one mission. He had to find Luffy.

If he was safe, then Shanks would take him far away from this place. But if he was dead, he'd find the body and bring it to his grieving grandpa. And if he was turned, then Shanks would use the antidote on him, and bring him back if it were possible.

That was the only goal now.

Shanks did run into a little group of zombies, he could not bring himself to shoot any. He knew that it might be better for them if they died, but they were all children, and Shanks couldn't kill them, even if they were already too far gone.

They saw him. They turned towards him with their lifeless grey eyes and slowly started to walk in his direction. Shanks was expecting them to look furious, foaming at the mouth and running at him for food. That was not what they looked like.

All five children looked sad. Very sad. Their clouded eyes looked distant, like they couldn't tell what was happening, or what they were doing. The captain felt like a coward, yet hurried away from them.

He was growing very concerned. There was no trace of Luffy anywhere. He was still unsure if that was a blessing or a curse, if he was going to find him dead, alive or worse.

So he walked further into the forest, following the only walkable trail to normal people. He was sure Luffy had gotten at least a little bit stronger in the two years, as the boy had vowed, but he was also worried that Luffy was somewhere in the jungle and Shanks wouldn't be able to find him.

He walked through the jungle down a very faint trail in the foliage, until he came upon a house. A crappy looking one, even if it didn't have two bodies that looked like they exploded against the walls, leaving blood and gore all over the side of the house. Shanks was able to not throw up this time.

Things were quiet here. The birds were barely heard. It could have been his heartbeat beating in his ears he heard as he took a peek inside the house. There were a lot of zombies in there, just mulling around. Shanks wondered what they ate in there since they were trapped. He also wondered how they got turned if all the exits were sealed.

He pulled his head back from the window. As he turned away he couldn't help but quietly gasp, as he hurried to the bloodied straw hat, that was intact other than the red stains _._ Luffy must have lived here. And he saw no Luffy in the house, and an alive Luffy would never leave his hat behind.

Shanks hung his head with a sigh and a miserable expression. Luffy had either been eaten completely, or was wandering around by himself, looking for people to eat. Just the image was terrible in Shanks' mind.

He moved behind a tree when he heard a scuffling sound, with a huff of air. It was coming from behind the house full of zombies. He silently walked down the side and looked around the corner.

There he was.

With two other zombified boys as well. One of them was dark haired like Luffy, while the other was blonde. They were all just sitting there, making no noise or movement. Until Luffy stood up, seeing a massive bug crawling across a tree. But he didn't make it far before he seemed to have lost interest, and tripped over the older dark haired boy, who kicked him. Luffy didn't stand up, just continued to lay face first in the grass.

All three boys had the faded irises and sad expression, veins clear with blood on their hands and smeared across their mouths. Shanks cringed at the knowledge Luffy had eaten someone, alive or not.

Shanks stepped on a stick, gaining the attention of all three boys. He was surprised to see the older one with black hair push Luffy away and stand in front of him. The pirate looked sadly at them. Though they were each so far gone from being normal humans, the two older ones seemed to care for Luffy.

Shanks would be taking Luffy from them, and since there was only enough of the antidote for one, the other two would be left behind. But, the man couldn't bring himself to just leave the two boys like this.

He'd put them out of their misery with a pistol he had brought and not needed to use. Shanks took off his heavy bag and quickly pulled the weighted trap out, tossing it perfectly so it landed on all three of them.

Shanks came prepared and was wearing a glove and padded arm. The rest of him should be fine since he was covered by his clothes. This was a bit difficult to do with one arm, but it would have to do.

The net caused both older boys to fall to the ground in a tangled mess. They clearly couldn't move very fast as they were barely making any effect under the thick rope. Initially, that rope was supposed to be used to catch Luffy, but Shanks hadn't expected others to be with him.

Luffy was still sitting on the ground, watching with a detached look. He barely stood up before Shanks was behind him, putting a muzzle on him to keep biting out during the process of bringing him back to the ship.

Zombie Luffy made an angry moaning sound, getting the attention of the other boys. Shanks worked quickly to tie Luffy's wrists together and lift him over his shoulder. Just as Shanks was about to pull the gun on the boys, he had a conflicting thought. What if the antidote worked? What if it was mass produced and everyone would be cured?

Would that be a better option than just ending the lives of the young zombies? They had both clearly already eaten someone based on the blood stains. Shanks made his decision and left the boys, who were just getting their hands out of the net. Luffy made a low, concerned moaning sound as he weakly thrashed around in Shank's grip, responding to the panicked moans coming from behind them.

"I'm sorry, Luffy. I'm sorry I didn't come sooner," Shanks said miserably as he ran back down to the town, not caring about him making noise, since Luffy was making quite a lot of it, squirming around the red haired man's grip. But Shanks wouldn't drop him.

Other zombies he hadn't seen walked after him, but he was in no real danger. They couldn't keep up with Shanks sprinting. Luffy gave up on fighting and instead clawed at Shanks's clothed back. It was weak and nowhere near alarming. The ship was at the dock, it had moved there while he was gone, which Shanks had broken so you had to jump from one side to the other side.

His crew looked over the side and saw poor Luffy, who had given up on fighting completely. He just was limp over Shanks' shoulder. He took the boy off and called for a rope to be lowered down. Along with it was the rope ladder.

Shanks tied a mostly-cooperative Luffy to a rope and he was lifted up onto the ship while Shanks climbed the rope ladder. After a while of using one arm, it was easy to do most things how he used to. When he got on deck, Luffy was sitting, his hands behind his back, and staring at the deck with glassy, faded eyes.

Beckman came forward and crouched in front of him. "Oh, Luffy," he said sadly. Luffy didn't react to his own name, just stared at the deck. "Captain, what do we do?" the first mate questioned. Everyone on the ship wore devastated faces. Nobody said a word about Makino, knowing whatever happened to her wasn't good, and didn't want to bring her up with Shanks, who had been very close to her.

Shanks took off his cloak, which had blood on it from Luffy's wet bloodied hands. He looked down at Luffy, and said, "First we should clean him up before giving him the antidote," he decided.

Yassop asked if they were really going to be spending it on Luffy. The others glared at him, and Shanks frowned. Of course they'd spend it on Luffy. Shanks felt guilt, even if it wasn't warranted, for not bringing Luffy along when he'd asked. Then he wouldn't have been on the island when the outbreak started. He would have been safe on the Red Force.

But there had been no way to know what was going to happen to the world, and it was the right decision at the time to leave him behind. It wasn't right for Shanks to feel guilty, but he did. There was no going around the fact that Luffy could be normal if he'd come along.

"We're spending it on Luffy," Shanks said sternly, and pulled him up. Luffy pulled away before he seemed to realize he couldn't, and followed Shanks as he pulled him inside. He led the boy to the bathhouse, and undressed him to clean all of the gunk and blood off.

If the antidote worked, then Luffy would eventually come back to himself, and being covered and reeking of blood and guts would not be a good way to wake up. Luffy struggled against Shanks more before he went limp in the water. Shanks washed him off, scrubbing the blood and other substances he didn't want to think about out from under his fingernails, and washing his hair.

It wasn't safe to attempt to brush his teeth, so he didn't even try. The bathwater was tinted pink after he was done. He put Luffy back in his clothes, which smelled but weren't especially soaked in too much blood, and Luffy looked much better. His face wasn't covered in blood anymore, and his hands were back to being little boy hands.

However, he was still clearly a zombie. His skin was not tan like how it used to be. More like a greenish tint, with some purple veins visible. But his eyes were what showed the most. His pupils were gone, all there was, were gray irises, looking murky. He clearly wasn't blind as he was looking for a way out and headed in one direction until Shanks stopped him.

He put his hand on Luffy's head, the muzzle still on, and tried to get him to focus on him. "Luffy? Luffy, it's Shanks. Do you remember me?" he asked, trying to sound cheerful. Luffy stared at him sleepily before hurrying forward and grabbing him weakly, trying to bite him only the muzzle was there.

Shanks bit his lip, and picked him up in a way that Luffy couldn't grab at him. He was weak and would not be strong enough or coordinated enough to take the muzzle off. Luffy moaned, sounding insistent. He wanted down, but Shanks didn't comply, ignoring the weak squirming that he was making.

He brought him to the room they'd prepared. It had a mattress, a porthole and nothing else. He put Luffy down on the mattress, and he immediately got up to go after Shanks, biting half-heartedly even though it was impossible for him to hurt Shanks with the muzzle on.

It wasn't a cheap one either. It would be impossible for Luffy to take off himself, even if he wasn't a zombie. It had a lock in the back and needed a second party to help take it off. Shanks took his shoulders and said, firmly, "We're going to fix you up, Luffy. Just wait, you'll be back to normal in no time."

Luffy groaned, and tried to get out of Shanks' hold. The man let him go, and Luffy turned around and slowly walked to the wall near the window, clawing at it and trying to find a way out. He hadn't even noticed there was a door, or that he'd come from that door. "I'll be back in a little bit," Shanks said sadly, and left the room, closing the door behind him before Luffy could try to get out.

The captain pressed his forehead against the wall, unable to get the image of Luffy eating Makino out of his head. He didn't think that was what happened, as Luffy was slow and so would not have been able to quickly climb up the mountain, since Makino had died recently. So Luffy wouldn't have had time to get away from her before Shanks came.

But still, the image persisted. Rockstar came up from behind him, and softly said, "Shawn got the antidote in the syringe." Shanks composed himself and nodded. "We're ready when you are."

The captain nodded and took a deep breath. He opened the door again, and Luffy fell forward, hitting the wooden floor and not trying to get back up, much like he had with the other two zombie boys. Shanks wondered if they were his friends. If this worked, then he'd find a way to get them the antidote. If it didn't, then Shanks would end them both out of mercy.

He picked up Luffy and put him over his shoulder, getting an irate groan and half-hearted kicks from his now-clean bare feet. He brought him to the infirmary and laid him on the bed. It had plastic over it, and they all had gloves on, even though Luffy was clean and was unable to bite or scratch.

The lights were turned on above him and Shanks latched all four limbs to the bed, earning more thrashing. Luffy seemed to be alarmed now, and was making spitting noises, struggling against the binds.

Those in the room looked sadly at the scene. Shanks ignored it, and told his doctor, Shawn, to inject the antidote. He nodded, his hands steady despite who his patient was, and injected it into Luffy's neck.

Nothing happened for a few minutes before Luffy started to screech and thrash around before the entire bed fell to the side and the table adjacent to it clattered to the ground, shattering noises heard by empty coffee mugs and other syringes. Nothing irreplaceable.

Luffy, though he was much more vocal and active now, could not get out of the binds. Yassop asked, "How long is it supposed to take?" Luffy screeched, but had lost most of the short-lived burst of energy. Now he just weakly clenched his hands and then relaxed them.

"It's not like we had enough time to stop and ask. Captain stole it from the government," Beckman said. They had no idea if or how long any change would take. Someone was to monitor Luffy at all times. Most were squeamish about it, not wanting to be anywhere near a live zombie. But they had to know if he was healing or if something bad happened.

There was no example as to what might happen that would be bad, but Rockstar floated a theory around that the virus could become airborne. It hadn't helped, but Shanks had assured them that the virus hadn't been airborne in the first place, so would most likely not start to come from Luffy's body.

The virus was speculated from tainted meat. The government hid it, but there were suspicions that that was how it all started. It wasn't confirmed. However, It was simply embarrassing that tainted meat caused a zombie apocalypse. It had brought the world to its knees, and with how much travel was integrated between islands, it spread like wildfire across all islands in the world. It jumped into the Grand Line from a pirate ship that had a stowaway on it that had not been a zombie when he boarded, but was one once he was found.

Shanks didn't know how it had gotten from the South Blue to the East Blue, but it had. And when they'd found that out, Shanks immediately had them head for Dawn Island, hoping that it was normal but not being optimistic enough to expect it to be.

Shanks picked the hospital bed up and set it back to normal before wheeling it down the halls and to Luffy's designated room. They didn't know how long it had been since Luffy last fed, so they might be on a time crunch before he'd die from starvation. If the antidote didn't work, Shanks would put him out of his misery, along with his friends that worried about him once the pirate had appeared.

He opened the room's door and unhooked Luffy from the bed and laid him down on the mattress. Shanks became a bit alarmed when Luffy didn't move, just laid on the bed, flat and staring at the ceiling. At least he wasn't trying to bite Shanks anymore. That was horrible to see. Even seeing Luffy like this at all was horrible, but he had faith that Luffy was stubborn enough to be able to fight back his sickness if the antidote actually was viable.

Shanks was going to take first watch, and put up the child's pen around him so Luffy couldn't get to him, even if the muzzle made him useless. He watched as Luffy moaned and groaned on the bed, not moving an inch. He didn't blink at all, so the only thing making Shanks sure he wasn't completely dead was the constant noises he made.

They were quiet, but audible. He waited all day, but nothing changed. When it was dinner time, food was brought to him when he didn't want to leave the room.

The smell of the cooked food caused a reaction from Luffy. He spat at the scent and managed to turn himself around so his face was pressed to the mattress. Well, that was one way to avoid a disgusting smell.

At least he wouldn't suffocate from laying on his face. Shanks ate in silence, watching Luffy, who didn't move at all since he laid on his stomach. When it was time to switch with Rockstar, Shanks wished him a feeble goodnight. The zombie child finally got up and stumbled to the child's pen that he couldn't get around to get to the open door before it was closed and Shanks was replaced with Rockstar.

During the night Shanks woke to his door being slammed open when Rockstar rushed in, telling Shanks that something was wrong with Luffy. He was awake in a second and flying down the halls behind Rockstar as he entered the small room and found, to his horror, that Luffy had vomited everything he'd eaten recently. Which was a lot of blood and guts.

He was laying in it face down, and it was a horrible sight to see. Shanks stepped over the fence. "Luffy? You okay?" he asked, knowing full well Luffy couldn't respond. But he did move, grabbed Shanks's bare foot and tried to bite it, moaning softly. Was he hungry? Well, there wasn't much - anything - they could do to fix that. They weren't going to get Luffy any victim. And zombies didn't usually eat dead meat, so giving him a corpse wouldn't suffice.

Shanks felt pity for him, and picked him up before laying him back on the bed and mopping the mess up on the floor after asking Rockstar to get him cleaning supplies. It reeked, and the whole time Luffy was grabbing at Shanks' leg, desperately trying to bite or eat him.

The captain hoped he wasn't in pain from being hungry. Once the floor was mopped up and guts gone, he dumped the whole bucket and mop into the ocean. It was late at night, but there were no sounds outside. It was eerily quiet, and creepy, knowing they were so close to an island infested with zombies. He could only imagine what Goa Kingdom was like. He didn't want to see.

Rockstar switched out with Judice and went to bed, quietly disturbed. Shanks wished him goodnight and went back to his room while Rockstar headed to his bunk in the room he shared with eight others. He managed to fall asleep alright, despite being shocked awake by screaming about Luffy.

Before breakfast, Shanks went to check on Luffy and found Yassop in there, reading. "Yassop, you're supposed to be supervising him," Shanks scolded. Yassop frowned, and said, "All he's done for the past two hours was lay on his stomach. There's not much to supervise."

Shanks still wasn't happy, and went to check on Luffy, stepping over the pen and tapping his shoulder. Luffy groaned, sounding irritated. At least, he seemed that way. Shanks forcibly turned him over, and Luffy pushed at his arms, trying to get him away, with his eyes closed.

Shanks didn't get away, and slid an eyelid up to reveal his irises were slightly darker, but still filmy and hazy looking. He couldn't tell if there was actual change or he was just seeing things. He didn't allow himself to get his hopes up at all. He had hope, but he still had the mindset of this being unlikely to be successful.

He didn't look forward to possibly having to end up killing him. Would he know? What if Luffy was trapped in his own body, unable to function correctly? What if he knew what he was doing and couldn't stop it? Knew he had eaten other people. If that were the case, then Shanks hoped that he wouldn't remember.

But suddenly, Luffy gripped his hand and yanked him down, only to meet the muzzle. Luffy grunted and rolled back onto his face. Shanks shared a look with Yassop, who shrugged. They couldn't really do anything. Shanks went to get breakfast for both of them and came back to see Luffy sitting up now and staring up at the porthole with blank eyes.

When the smell of bacon and eggs entered the room, Luffy looked around staring at the two eating pirates. He walked forward and Shanks thought he wanted to try the eggs or bacon. It made him feel hope that Luffy was getting better. He must be hungry, and Shanks didn't want him to die from starvation.

He left and got a glove, when Yassop said he would do it. He put the glove on and then picked up the bacon and pulled the muzzle off, but grabbed Luffy's hair tightly and turned him the opposite direction. He put the bacon in front of Luffy's mouth. But this was definitely the wrong thing to do, as Luffy grabbed Yassop's hand and yanked the glove off too quickly for a zombie, and bit off one of his fingers, chewing on it while Yassop screamed.

In a second, his hand was cut off. He screamed and Luffy slammed the pen forward and grabbed the hand before starting to eat it hungrily. Shanks hurried Yassop out of the room, who was doing his best not to cry. Shanks knew first-hand how terrible it was to lose part of your body.

But, to their relief, Yassop did not turn. Since turning only took maybe thirty seconds, he was safe. Though, this may have not been a good thing to do. The entire thing. Luffy had only seemed to have gotten stronger. Before, he was slow and weak and couldn't knock down the sturdy playpen.

Yet moments ago he pushed against it so hard it fell. As well as being fast enough to take a glove off and bite down. And he was also showing he could think faster, if he could at all before. He'd baited them, acting interested in the human food only to eat Yassop's finger instead.

It was worrisome. When they got to the infirmary, the doctor asked no question before treating the missing hand. At least it wasn't his dominant hand, so he would still be able to use a gun. It would have been devastating losing his left hand.

People had gathered from the screaming, and Shanks explained what happened. They were all angry and so worried. They all liked Luffy when he was alive, but it was dangerous to keep a zombie. And now the muzzle was off and he was faster and stronger.

Suddenly there were more screams and people running down the hall. "He opened the fucking door!" Rockstar shouted. Shanks frowned and got a rope net like he had before, only it wasn't weighted. It would last only a second, when he could drag him back to the room and attempt to put the muzzle on.

He found Luffy walking steadily through the hall, though he tripped and fell over nothing and groaned. It looked like he still wasn't at full power. Shanks tossed the rope on him and pulled up the ends so Luffy was hanging upside down in the net.

He had blood all over his mouth and hands, and Shanks wrapped another piece of rope around his hands behind his back, Luffy thrashing around and spitting in the net. Shanks carried it to the room, which had no hand, meaning he'd eaten it, and he put Luffy face down and put the muzzle over him again.

He wrapped it around the back of his head before quickly bringing it down so it covered his mouth again. The zombie continued to be angry and make jerky movements to get out.

Shanks didn't bother with the playpen, and looked down at Luffy with sadness. He had hoped he would get better quicker, but he had to remind himself that this was not guaranteed to work, and only seemed to be making things worse.

He was surprised and startled when Luffy started screaming and flailing his legs around while his hands were tied to his back and he was face down, still wrapped in the net. Shanks picked him up and set him down on the mattress.

The pirate left the room, and put a rope from the door handle to one to the storage room across the hall so Luffy couldn't pull the door open again. He went to check on Yassop, who was stewing in the infirmary, but he got a hold of himself. "Luffy sure does like causing people to lose appendages."

Beckman scolded him, "The first time was not his fault. And this time, it's not Luffy. He wouldn't do that if he was back to normal. But this doesn't look good, captain."

Shanks nodded, agreeing. He was miffed at Yassop's comment, but Beckman said all he needed. "It seems like the 'antidote' made him a bit stronger and smarter. Did Yassop say what happened?" Beckman nodded.

Yassop lost the angry expression, and sadly asked, "Is it really better to do this than to just put him out of his misery? Or maybe we can release him back on the island, which doesn't have any live humans anymore. And you said he was with two other zombie boys, who were concerned about him."

Shanks looked down. Was it better to leave him? Or to kill him? He really wasn't sure, and wouldn't make the decision until he was.

Nobody but Shanks was willing to go in the room anymore. They didn't want to risk anything, and Shanks didn't make them. It was his decision to try and cure Luffy, and it had caused Yassop to not have his right hand anymore. He felt guilt. Yassop was trying to be kind and he was punished for it.

He went in to check on Luffy before he went to bed. He untied the door handle and slowly opened the door to see the zombie child was banging his head against the far wall. It was so hard to see Luffy like this. Not just his body, but how he acted. This wasn't the little boy he called a friend only a couple years ago.

It wasn't Luffy anymore. And even though he was a zombie, Shanks felt sad for him, that he was locked in a small room and restrained like this. He didn't know if Luffy could feel happy anymore, but if he could, he definitely wasn't right now.

When he turned around, he looked at Shanks with dull eyes that seemed to have a trace of anger in them. He wore a deep frown and walked forward and tried to kick Shanks, only to fall over on his back, and stay still, staring at the ceiling.

Shanks left the room and tied the door handle again before going to bed.

The next day, he checked on Luffy before breakfast, hoping so much that he had improved. Become maybe just a little bit more how he originally was. But it didn't seem to get better, only worse. Shanks walked over to him and sighed, putting his hand through Luffy's hair. It was dirty and oily. A few strands came out, so he didn't do it anymore.

Luffy was laying on his side, black liquid coming from his mouth and nose. His eyes were open. Shanks felt cruel. Maybe this really was a bad idea. Luffy didn't seem to even be seeing him.

He made a groaning sound, and Shanks heard a sickening sound, like something being ripped apart, and one of Luffy's fingers suddenly detached from his hand. Black liquid came from it. Luffy didn't notice.

Shanks couldn't do this anymore. Not when he was reacting like this. He picked Luffy up, who didn't struggle at all, didn't respond. Well, he was making a constant moaning sound which made Shanks know he was still "alive". He hoped he'd just die, but he didn't as he went out on deck.

Nobody asked where he was going or what he was doing. He took Luffy out onto the dock, a gun in hand. He tried sitting Luffy up, but he just flopped backwards, limp. An arm tore off, landing next to him in a muffled thump.

Shanks cocked the gun and clenched his teeth before shooting Luffy once in the head.

Tears were down his face, but Luffy had a relaxed expression on, his eyes still open. Black blood came from his head wound, and Shanks covered him in his cloak. Beckman came with him when Shanks said he'd be burying Luffy and shooting his friends as well. The cure didn't work, and it would be cruel to use it on someone else when it did _this_ to them.

Even though they were zombies now, they had once been people. Had lives and families and dreams. Luffy's dreams would never come true. Beckman, out of pity, killed all of the zombies that he saw, shooting them in the head with impressive accuracy.

Shanks led him up the mountain and to where the other kids were. He could sense them moving, even a little bit. When he got into the clearing, he made sure to keep Luffy wrapped in the cloak. If these boys felt anything for Luffy, they might feel emotional pain at seeing him now. He set Luffy down and shot both of them in the head. The two fell down, but they had relaxed expressions on, too.

It made Shanks think that part of them was still aware, and they knew what they'd become. Of course, he'd never know, since he wasn't exactly going to let himself turn into a zombie.

Beckman found a shovel in the shed of the cheaply made house, and Shanks got to digging their graves in the front yard. It was silent besides the sound of the shovel entering the ground. He dug until there was a large, deep hole. He buried Luffy and his two friends together.

Tears were on his cheeks again as he shovelled the dirt back into the hole and over the zombie children. Seeing dirt cover Luffy's face was horrible. He disappeared from view, and Shanks just sat in front of the graves for a while, before deciding one more person deserved to be buried.

He did the awful task of bringing Makino's body to the clearing and sending her off as well. Sticks were shoved into the ground above their graves, and Shanks hung the straw hat over Luffy's stick.

They left the island in terrible moods, grieving over what they thought would be a successful plan. But it only made things worse. At least they were all at rest now.

The End


	2. Author's Note

Hey! This is my entry for the _**Darker Oneshots, Halloween 2020**_ event! And I took part in this event along with:

**TheBadIdeaBears**

**Caldera Valhallis**

**Ferith12**

**Potashiamu**

**Kakashi97**

**Rhearenee**

**Tartarun**

**Alastair**

**Iceburg-sanCPX**

**Silirt**

**Kamil the Awesome**

**Nazaki-Sama**

**HisagiKirigakure**

**Phoenixreal**

**SesshomaruFreak**

**Yemi Hikari**

**Seth's Kiss**

Serenajones585

**The Token**

**Shnuggletea**

**Wrath of Vajra**

**SereneCalamity**

**DemonShippingQueen**

**Nissa Fox**

**Spunky0ne**

**Brenna76**

**DemonoftheFridge**

**Karkatsbabe**

**SensiblyTainted**

**CrimsonRaine87**

**Silverstar**

**DancesWithSeatbelts**

**Desna**

**FrejaBee**

**Drawingdownthemoon**

**Elleurs**

**KurohimeHaruko**

**TsukikoUchu**

**WhatIEternallyDesire**

**Yatsu Narurasuke**

**Babyvfan**

**Xache**

**Jadeile**

**NekoPantera**

**Sigan**

**Bewdofchaos**

**RayeMoon**

**ArgentNoelle**

**AsgardianHobbit98**

**PhantomGypsy**

**HoshisamaValmor**

**Starfire93**

**Count Morningstar**

**Max333**

**Sailor Silver Ladybug**

Please kindly check out their Halloween one-shots (when they come out, because we're posting during the entirety of October) and their other fics if they suit your tastes, and please heed their Warnings too, thank you! (This takes place on fanfiction.net) 


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